Tagged: Konami

DC Direct seems to like making a liar out of me. A while back, I previewed 3 different lines of figures (Blackest Night series 7 & 8, Mass Effect 2 series 1) that were supposed to be on shelves by now. They aren’t, and all 3 lines have been pushed back to the 1st and 2nd quarters of 2011. Why? DC Direct gave no reasons, but the company is apparently notorious for doing such. This makes for me being a sad panda, although my bank account is pleased as it can recover from the holidays. HOWEVER, the first line of Green Lantern Classics are out (Mattel) and we got them! I haven’t picked up any yet (Kyle Rayner was sold out when I got to the shop), but they look great! Look for a review sometime in the new year.

Moving along, today we’re gonna to take a look at what’s in the import section of Forbidden Planet’s NYC store, as there’s some stuff that tends to get overlooked, or sells out real quick so it doesn’t get it’s time in the spotlight.

Konami’s R-Style Evangelion and Haruhi figurines.

Konami, much like SEGA, just doesn’t just releases games in Japan, they’re also famous for releasing some cool toys from time to time. The R-Style line is Konami’s brand of super-deformed chibis based on popular series. You really can’t do much with them, they are pretty cheap, are well-sculpted and painted, and can be displayed easily. Not for everyone, but I have a few of the EVA ones (plus some older R-Styles from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann), and unlike most Gasaphon, you acutally know who you’re buying via indication on the side of the box. Continue reading →

Up to now, most of the video game related figures we’ve looked at have been created by Square Enix, as most of them have been based on Japanese properties. However, Square’s expansion to non-Final Fantasy/ Kingdom Hearts properties is still fairly new, and they wouldn’t be the first company to handle both eastern and western video game properties this decade (Technically Toy Biz is, but those toys are super dated). Ever since 2004, NECA has been working with a number of publishers to create figures based on best selling games and franchises. Today’s article will highlight some of the products they’ve churned out these last couple of years, both the good and the bad.

In the beginning…..

The first line of video game related toys that introduced me to NECA was the Resident Evil 4 line. This wasn’t the first time a American company had attempted to create toys based on the best selling Survivor-Horror Games (again Toy Biz covered Resident Evil 1-3 with figures in the late 90s), and NECA launched with a line that was well sculpted (for 2004) and came with a decent amount of accessories per figure. Pictured is RE4 lead Leon S Kennedy, who aside from a handgun, came with a knife, rocket launcher and a few grenades. The major flaw with these figures were that articulation on them were severely limited, and were sculpted in odd positions, attempting to be like McFarlane Toys. NECA released 2 lines for RE4, and then figures based on the Resident Evil 1 remakes, but would not touch the line again until 2009. We’ll get back to that later.

NECA’s sculpts got better with time, as they moved on to work on figures based on popular Eidos properties like Tomb Raider and Hitman, but the first line of video game toys that really caught my attention were based on Konami’s Castlevania series. The first (and sadly only) line in the set focused on the original Castlevania, as well as Symphony on the Night, arguably the most popular entry in the series to date. NECA finally managed to combined good sculpts with better articulation, as seen with Alucard and the Succubus. These improved sculpts didn’t mean that NECA would cut back on accessories though, as both figures came with weapons from the game, and in the Succubus’ case, a tiny demonic sidekick. These figures have proven to be very popular, and the line was re-released several times, to the point the FPNYC still has them in stock. Continue reading →